Furuya tells the TV station that the next step is to change their driver’s license and Social Security card.

Furuya’s actions come less than a month afterSB 179 was introduced in the California legislature. If passed, the bill would streamline the process for Californians to change their legal gender to non-binary.

About the author

Phillip Zonkel

Award-winning journalist Phillip Zonkel spent 17 years at Long Beach's Press-Telegram, where he was the first reporter in the paper's history to have a beat covering the city's vibrant LGBTQ. He also created and ran the popular and innovative LGBTQ news blog, Out in the 562.

He won two awards and received a nomination for his reporting on the local LGBTQ community, including a two-part investigation that exposed anti-gay bullying of local high school students and the school districts' failure to implement state mandated protections for LGBTQ students.